Today's News

If there’s one thing people hate more than the complex labyrinth of wasted stimulus money known as the Smith Avenue extension project, it’s the new congressional districts recently adopted in the General Assembly.

Just as the new route traversing Shallotte is a dismal failure lacking any rhyme or reason, so are the new congressional districts, or at least the 7th Congressional District, where we live.

Everybody hates the new 7th District. It was sliced and diced to span from the coast to the outskirts of Raleigh.

RALEIGH—Members of the North Carolina House of Representatives approved new congressional and state Senate redistricting maps last week, which went on to pass in a party-line vote in the state Senate last week.

State Rep. Frank Iler, R-Oak Island, said House members passed the congressional districts 68 votes to 51 votes, and state Senate districts 67 votes to 52 votes.

“They are not subject to a governor’s veto, but must be cleared by the federal government,” Iler said about the congressional districts.

The ACE Team is a support unit whose primary functions are traffic enforcement and assisting in the apprehension of drug traffickers in the county.

From July 25-31, ACE deputies issued 91 total arrests and citations, including three driving while impaired charges and 37 speed violations.

The following suspects were charged:

•William Standland, 43, of 7193 Gore Road, Longwood, was charged with driving while impaired, driving while license revoked, no helmet, no insurance, headlight violation and fail to register with the N.C. DMV.

SUPPLY—On Monday, Aug. 1, the day the Brunswick County Veterans Affairs (VA) community clinic was scheduled to open, officials announced “unforeseen delays” caused the opening to be pushed back.

Brunswick County Veterans Services Director Anita Hartsell announced Monday morning the clinic would not open as scheduled, saying VA officials were still “getting the new facility prepared for the opening.”

Agents with the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office Drug Enforcement Unit arrested a Leland man last week, which led to the seizure of prescription narcotics and money.

Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Sgt. April Stanley said Christopher Douglas Caputo was taken into custody on July 25, after attempting to sell narcotics to an undercover agent in the Pizza Hut parking lot on Village Road in Leland.

When drug agents searched Caputo, they found 128 Oxycodone tablets and $307 in U.S. currency.

BOLIVIA—“I’m going to Disneyland,” a visibly relieved George Cooper joked after he was acquitted of assault on a law enforcement officer Tuesday in Brunswick County Superior Court.

When the verdict as read, Cooper, 56, clapped and cheered, as a Brunswick County jury found him not guilty of assault on a law enforcement officer by pointing a gun from a May 2007 incident in which he was shot several times.